Letterpress hold-down wire



Dec. bs, 1959 Filed May 8, 1958 B. J. KEATING 2,916,286

LETTERPRESS HOLD-DOWN WIRE 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

BILLY JArn/ Byiiw ff/MW@ Dec. 8, 1959 B. J. KEATING 2,916,286

LETTERPRESS HOLD-DOWN WIRE Filed May 8, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV ENT ORBILLY J iwf/Vg ATTORNEYS Dec. 8, 1959 B. J. KEATING 2,916,286

LETTERPRESS HOLD-DOWN WIRE Filed May 8. 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I BYATTORNEYS United States Patent O LEITERPRESS HOLD-DOWN WIRE Billy J.Keating, Austin, Tex.

Application May 8, 1958, Serial No. 733,875

'3 Claims. (Cl. 271-89) The present invention relates to letterpresshold-down wires of the type used with presses of the two-colorletterpress type.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a hold-down wire forletterpresses which can be adjusted to control the tension and modifiedto adapt its use to paper of varying thickness.

Another object of the invention is to provide a holddown wire of theclass described above which will effectively prevent balling-up ofprinted material delivered from a press in the area of the drying llame,and hence prevent fires of such balled-up material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a holddown wire of theclass described above which can be directly attached to existing pressequipment without modifying the press structure in any appreciabledegree.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a hold-down wirestructure of the class described above which is inexpensive tomanufacture, simple to attach, and which is completely effective inguiding the sheets on delivery from the printing press withoutoffsetting the ink or causing smears.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the followingspecification when considered in the light of the attached drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of the delivery end of a presswith the invention attached thereto.

Figure 2 in-as enlarged fragmentary vertical crosssection taken alongthe line 2-2 of Figure l, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, with the elements shown in asecond position.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary end elevation of the end jogger plates.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, illustrating the parts inadjusted position.

Figure 6 is an end elevation of a wire support.

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is an enlarged side elevation of the hold-down wire and supportstructure.

Figure 9 is atop plan view of the structure illustrated in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in Figure 8,taken from the opposite side, illustrating a second position of theparts in dotted lines.

Figure 11 is an enlarged fragmentary end elevation taken along the line11--11 of Figure l0, looking'in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 12 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse crosssection taken alongthe line 12--12 of Figure 8, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like referencecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, thereference numeral 2,0 indicates generally a letterpress of the typeknown as The Miller 2- Color manufactured by the Miller PrintingMachinery Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is of the type havj2,916,286 Patented Dec. 8, 1959 'Ihe pulleys 25 are each supported on apulley bracket 26 carried by a transversely extending pulley bracketshaft 27 fixed to the press 20. The pulley brackets 26 are laterallyadjustable on the shaft 27 in a conventional manner. A transverselyextending jogger operating shaft 28 is arranged parallel to andforwardly of the pulley bracket shaft 27 and normally carries aplurality of holddown wires (not shown).

A gas burner pipe 29 is arranged parallel to, slightly forwardly of andsubstantially below the jogger operating shaft 28 and has a plurality ofburner jet apertures 30 formed in the upper face thereof to provide adrying llame for printed sheets moving thereover delivered from thetapes 22, 24.

Parallel and closely adjacent to the forward side of the burner 29 is anair pipe 31 having a plurality' of upwardly directed nozzles 32 formedtherein to pro- Vide an upwardly directed current of air to assist infloat ing heavier grade papers when moving from the tapes 22, 24 to thepress jogger, generally indicated at 33.

The jogger 33 is provided to form a stack 34 of the printed sheets andincludes a transversely extending pile bar support 35, a pair of spacedapart parallel longitudinally extending side jogger blades 36 extendingforwardly from the pile bar support 35 and a transversely extendingjogger blade shaft 37 which is arranged parallel to the pile barsupport.35 and extends between the side jogger blades 36. A generallyrectangular front center jogger blade 38 is supported on the joggerblade shaft 37 by means of a removable clamp 39.

A pair of front side jogger blades 40 are arranged on opposite sides ofthe center jogger blade 38 and supported on the jogger blade shaft 37 bydetachable clamps 41.

The delivery tape section 21 of the press 20.is pivotally mounted on ashaft 42 to permit the servicing of inking mechanism located thereunderand the tape delivery section 21 is maintained in elevated position, asillustrated in Figure 3, by means of a latch structure (not shown) ofconventional design. The press 20 is of such a nature that it must bestopped before elevating the delivery tape section 21 to the positionillustrated in Figure 3.

The printing press 20 and the Amechanism described above is ofconventional design and constitutes the structure to which my inventionis attached.

The conventional hold-down wires used with the press- 20 are selectivelyengaged in one of the grooves 43 in the shaft 28. These hold-down wiresare positioned in a groove 43 so as to align with spaces 44 occurringbetween printed areas 45, as seen in Figure 1.

In many instances, the spaces 44 in the printed material do not alignwith any one of the grooves 43, and the conventional hold-down wirestend to smudge or offset the ink on the printed material passingtherebeneath. The present invention utilizing the adjustability of thebrackets 26 on the shaft 27 is` arranged for lateral ed on the outer endof the bolt 50 and has an integral knurled knob 52 fixed to the outerend thereof. The function of the threaded sleeve 51 is described below.

The arm 47 is formed of relatively heavy sheet metal and includes aV-shaped bottom`wall 53 having the forward end thereof upwardly andrearwardly sloping at 54, as best seen in Figures 8 and 9. The arm 47has a central longitudinally extending slot S opening through the apexof the V-shaped bottom wall 53, as can be seen in Figures 9 and 10.

The V-shaped bottom walls 53 are provided at their central portions withupwardly and inwardly converging panels 56. The panels 56 terminate inspaced relation to each other and have depending spaced apart parallelportions 57 integrally secured to the inner upper edges thereof. Atransversely extending slot 58 is formed in the portions 57, panels 56and V-shaped bottom wall 53, terminating in an enlarged transverseopening` 59, as best seen in Figures 8 and 10.

The arm 47, at the rear end portion thereof, is provided with outwardlyextending horizontal portions 60 having integrally formed on the outeredges thereof spaced apart parallel upstanding rear end members 61, 62.

The rear end member 61 is provided with an inwardly projecting ear 63formed on the lower portion of the rear end thereof. The ear 63 has avertical slot 64 formed therein engaging over the bolt 50 and having asize such that the threaded sleeve 51 is too large to engagetherethrough. The threaded sleeve 51 with the arm 47 raised to thedotted line position as illustrated in Figure 10, can be moved inwardlyon the threaded bolt 50 so that the ear 63 will engage the threadedsleeve 51 and prevent the arm 47 from returning to horizontal position.

A pin 65 extends upwardly and forwardly from the shaft 49 and is rigidlysecured thereto at the end thereof beyond the member 62. A stub shaft 66is journalled in the member 62 forwardly and slightly below the shaft49. A connecting pin 67 is slidably mounted in the stub shaft 66 fortransverse sliding movement therethrough and has the end 68 thereofpivotally secured to the terminal end of the pin 65.

A coil spring 69 encompasses the connecting pin 67 and normally biasesthe end 68 of the connecting pin 67 in a direction away from the stubshaft 66. With the arm 47 in the position illustrated in Figure 8, thespring 69 normally urges the arm 47 downwardly at the forward endthereof. With the arm 47 in the position illustrated in Figure 3, thespring 69 is normally urging the arm 47 in an upward direction.

The hold-down Wire 46 has an integral T head 70 formed on the upper rearend thereof, and the head 70 is engaged through the slot 58 and isjournalled in the enlarged opening 59 at the bottom thereof. As viewedin Figure 8, the T head 70 is attened in the plane of the wire 46 sothat it can be moved through the slot 58 only when the wire 46 isdepending perpendicularly from the arm 47. The wire 46 projectsdownwardly through the slot 55 and forwardly at an angle to the arm 47with the forward end thereof engaging through a selected one of thebores 71 formed in the jogger plates 38 and 40.

The jogger blade shaft 37 is provided with V-shaped supports 72 havingloops 73 encompassing the shaft 37. The support 72 is sprung outwardlyso that the loops 73 bind against the shaft 37 to secure the support 72in laterally adjusted position thereon.

The delivery tape section 21, when raised, tends to tip the arm 47downwardly whereupon the pressure of the lwire 46 or contact with thepile bar support 35, causes the arm 47 to begin to turn in a clockwisedirection around the shaft 49 on which it is journalled. The pins 65 and67 pass dead center so that the spring 69 moves the arm 47 to theposition illustrated in Figure 3. ln this position, the wire 46 and thehead 70 thereon can be moved out of the slot 58 so that it may beremoved and replaced as desired.

When the delivery tape section 21 is lowered, the arm 47 will strike theshaft 28 and be restrained from further rearward movement thereby sothat as the pins 65 and 67 pass dead center again, the spring 69 willbecome effective to move the arm 47 to the position illustrated inFigure 2.

The press 20 is usable through a variety of sizes of material'and thejogger plates 38, 40 can be overlapped to a more or less extent, and insorne cases', .the center blade 38 can be used alone with the side wires46 having their forward ends carried in the supports 72. While thehold-down wires 46 are normally used with the arm 47, particularly inthe case of relatively thin material, it should be understood that thearms 47 may be used alone in the case of relatively thiclcmaterial andwhen conditions require.

In printing, the paper is normally either curled up or down and aserious bottleneck develops at the forward end of the delivery tapesection 21 when the forward edge of the paper comes in line with the gasburner 29. The paper tends to curl back on itself under such conditionand ball-up over the gas burner 29 so as to become easily ignited andcreate a dangerous fire.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention, itshould be understood ,that numerous structural modifications andadaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope` of thevappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hold-down wire support for printing presses of the type including atransverse jogger blade shaft at the delivery end thereof and having atransversely adjustable tape pulley bracket mounted on said printingpress adjacent the delivery end thereof but spaced from said joggerblade shaft: comprising an arm4 having a V-shaped cross-section, meanspivotally securing said arm to said bracket on a horizontal axis, ahold-down wire, a T head formed on one end of said hold-down wire, meanson said arm loosely pivotally securing said T head thereon, and meansadapted to be laterally adjustably supported on said jogger blade shaftfor supporting the end of said hold-down wire opposite said T head.

2. A device as claimed in claim l wherein over-center means are providedon said arm for selectively biasing said arm in a downward direction inone position of said arm and in an upward direction in another positionof said arm.

3. A device as claimed in claim l wherein said V- shaped arm is providedwith an elongated longitudinally extending central slot through whichsaid hold-down wire Hall May 19, 1896 McGarvin Sept. 22, 1925

